


I’m not starting a riot, Yukhei.

by marksfullsun



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Mechanic!Yukhei, Student Body President!Mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-30 20:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15104402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marksfullsun/pseuds/marksfullsun
Summary: Mark just wants to make the world a better place and Yukhei doesn't know how to help him so he starts a riot.“It’s not a riot! It’s a peaceful protest.”





	I’m not starting a riot, Yukhei.

“It’s a simple proposal, sir.” Mark looked pleadingly at the high school principal.

“I’m sorry Mark, the school is far to busy to work on something like this. With exams coming up, no one has the time.”

“But exams are always coming up.”

“Mark… it’s not going to happen.” Mark cheeks flushed with frustration and mild embarrassment. He had worked on his proposal for weeks, it was as close to perfect as he could get. But, the principal barely skimmed it before giving Mark a straight ‘no’. _How could he refuse to even consider it?_ Mark’s mind was a flurry of anger and stress. He promised so many students that he’d do his best to get the proposal passed and the meeting had only lasted four minutes. It was embarrassing. At this point, Mark just wanted to go home and cry underneath a blanket. Luckily, that meeting was during the last block of the day, which he had free. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted his boyfriend to pick him up. Yukhei worked odd hours so he was almost always free to come pick up Mark and when he wasn’t Mark could just go down to the auto repair shop he worked at. Yukhei’s family owned it so Mark was always welcome to hang out and do homework while not so subtly checking out Yukhei working on whatever car they had in. 

It only took a minute for Yukhei to respond, saying he’d be there in five. Mark walked to the park next to the school, taking a seat on one of the rusty green benches. He self-consciously looked around, making sure no one he knew was there. Even if other students were there skipping student body they’d probably hide from him, no one likes getting told off by the student body president for skipping. He was only being careful because he hadn’t exactly told anyone that he was dating Yukhei. It had been three months and he was still unsure of announcing his relationship to the rest of the school. Yukhei was a year older and hadn’t attending the same school as him so practically no one in the school knew him unless their car broke down at some point. If that was the case then he was just the town’s ‘hot mechanic’. It wasn’t that Mark was embarrassed of Yukhei, he was just so stressed out from college apps, exams, being student body president, leader of the school’s GSA, and every other responsibility he had stupidly agreed to. He liked that Yukhei was separate from the stress, it was like two separate universes: being with Yukhei and being at school. He liked who he was with Yukhei better anyway. At school he was uptight, stressed, unconfident, but with Yukhei he immediately calmed down. Plus, he was sure that second the student body found out he was dating the town’s ‘hot mechanic’ that would be all they’d talk about. And he knew Yukhei was out of his league, he didn’t need a couple hundred other people telling him that too. 

As he mindlessly scrolled through his phone, the sounds of a bike grew louder as Yukhei approached on his motorcycle. It was old, a classic, but it was in perfect condition considering his family’s business. Yukhei took one look at Mark and handed him the spare helmet from the back of his bike. Mark put it on and climbed on the back, wrapping his arms around his boyfriends waist and resting his head on his back. They sped away and Mark began to daydream as he watched the buildings passing by. The whole town was so white-picket-fenced and pristine, and no one ever wanted it to change even if it meant they could make it better. Yukhei pulled over in front of the small bakery on the corner of an uncrowded street. “What are we doing here?”

“You’re having a bad day.” Mark gave him a look that said _so what?_ “You’re having a bad day and you like muffins, that a good enough reason for you?” Mark smiled slightly and Yukhei took it as a win. They walked into the bakery and were greeted by a particularly perky worker. Yukheibought them two muffins, one chocolate chip and one blueberry. They sat a table by the window and Mark began to pick at the muffin, like he was attempting to eat it crumb by crumb. “I take it your meeting didn’t go well.”

“You could say that.” Yukhei frowned, Mark looked deflated like he had lost hope.

“Did he read your proposal?” Yukhei pushed him to speak, knowing that once Mark got going it would be hard to stop one of his rants. But something told Yukhei that Mark might need a rant session right now.

“Barely. I think he just read the title page.” 

“I’m sorry, babe-”

“It’s just so frustrating, you know.” _And here we go_ , Yukhei smiled slightly “I spent so much time talking to people about what they wanted to change in the school and this was _the_ biggest one. So many people have brought it up to teachers in so many ways but I just thought that if I _the fucking student body president_ said something then maybe they would take it seriously. But no, they’re too busy! It’s exam season! That’s all they give a shit about, the fucking exams and not the people getting kicked out of class for this stupid reason that we could easily change.”

“If they’re not willing to listen to you maybe you could _make_ them listen.”

“I’m not starting a riot, Yukhei.”

“Why not? Riots are like a party, just a very productive and slightly violent party.”

“No, Yukhei.”

“Fine, we’ll figure something else out.”

“We?”

“Don’t ‘we?’ me,” Mark snorted “you know I’ve got your back.” Mark smiled, holding Yukhei’s hand across the table as his boyfriend traced shapes on the back of his hand. They spent the rest of the afternoon back in Yukhei’s family’s mechanic shop. Mark attempted to finish some of his advanced bio assignment and failed at not checking out Yukhei who was working on his bike. Maybe life would be simpler if he just stopped trying to change things, even if he disagreed with them.

—

Yukhei sat at the dinner table abnormally quiet. He picked at the food in front of him, still thinking about the expression Mark bore when he picked him up from school. He loved when Mark got riled up talking about something he cared about. He loved the persistence and devotion his boyfriend held towards making the world a better place. But that afternoon he had seen none of that caring devotion, he looked crushed. “Mom?”

“Yes Yukhei?”

“I don’t know what to do about Mark’s proposal. I have to help him, I just don’t know how.” His mother looked at him fondly.

“Mark is a driven young man, are you sure he needs your help with this?”

“He’s never needed help before, but I think yeah, he does.” Yukhei sighed, resting his head on his hands. 

“Well I’m not sure what you can do, Yukhei. You may just have to be there for him if he decides he needs you.” Yukhei’s father, who usually sat quietly enjoying his meal while the soccer game was on in the background, spoke up.

“What exactly is Mark’s proposal for?”

“Reforming the school’s dress code, it’s unbelievably restrictive and unfair to the girls.”

“And this principal of his didn’t even read the proposal?” Yukhei shook his head, wondering where his father was going with this. “Haven’t I taught you anything, son?”

“You’ve taught me a lot dad, not anything specifically about high school dress codes though.”

“I’m not talking about the dress code.” Yukhei’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Well, yes I am. But my point is that not everyone is going to listen to what you, or Mark, have to say. Sometimes you have to make them listen.”

“That what I suggested but Mark said no riots.”

“Well… it doesn’t have to be a riot. It just had to show that there are people who feel strongly about this issue and that the school needs to give them the time of day.”

“I don’t want Mark to get in trouble.”

“Maybe that’s how you can help him then.” His mom looked at his as if she knew every thought in his head, she could always read him like a book. “Besides, when has our family ever shied away from a little civil disobedience?”

—

Mark walked to school on Monday with his shoulders sagging and bags under his eyes. He had spent his whole weekend moping about his failed proposal. He was about a block away from the school when he started hearing some commotion, he could hear voices and chanting. His confusion was lifted when he had reached the front of the school and saw half of the student body standing outside. They held signs and banners protesting the current school dress code. Everyone held white paper packets in their hands and wore clothes that were undoubtedly against the code. He grabbed a packet from a passing sophomore and nearly dropped it when he saw the front page. It was his proposal.

Hands grabbed his shoulders from behind and he flinched. He turned to be face to face with his boyfriend whose smile outshone the sun. “Do you like it?”

“Yukhei! I told you not to start a riot!”

“It’s not a riot! It’s a peaceful protest.”

“Do you really think the principal’s going to give a fuck what we call it when he suspends me?”

“He’s not going to suspend you, you have nothing to do with this.” Mark looked at Yukhei with an expression that read the words _what the fuck_ exactly. “Take a look at the proposal.” He looked down at the packet in his hands. His name was no where to be found, not a single paged mentioned him. He looked around at all the people who were screaming and chanting, he’d never seen them so unified before.

“How did you do all this?”

“It was nothing really.” Mark gave him a look. “Okay so I spent all weekend printing flyers, finding the individual emails of every student (which was easy by the way, you left your email open on my laptop) and painting signs. But really it was nothing.” Mark threw himself at his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around him as tight as possible.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” Yukhei blushed.

“God babe, don’t embarrass me in front of the rioters.”

“Protesters.”

“Sure, them too.” Mark looked up at his boyfriend with adoring eyes and Yukhei swears he felt his heart stop. He leaned in to kiss Mark but felt his boyfriend pull back. He looked down, confused.

“Yukhei,” Mark looked away, embarrassed. “I haven told anyone here about us.”

“Why?” Mark felt a pang of guilt in his chest.

“I just… I don’t know. I thought that people might treat me differently if they knew I was dating the ‘hot mechanic’.”

“The who now?” Yukhei asked smugly.

“Don’t make me say it again, you know that’s what they call you.”

“Well… you only have about six months left in this place and you’ve already started a riot. I say roll with the rebellious streak and lets give these rioters a show.”

“Protesters.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Yukhei leaned in and this time Mark didn’t pull away. The sound of chanting and stomping faded away as Mark relaxed into the kiss. The weight he’d felt on his chest lifted and he eased into the warmth that radiated from Yukhei’s touch. Until they were unfortunately interrupted by a dumb junior with a megaphone.

“HOLY SHIT IS THAT MARK LEE?” Mark pulled away from the kiss and his his face in Yukhei’s chest. “HOLY SHIT MARK LEE WAS MAKING OUT WITH THE HOT MECHANIC!”

“Oh my god this is so embarrassing.” It only got worse as his classmates started chanting his name. 

“Mark! Mark! Mark!” Yukhei joined in.

“Shut up.”

“Why? I’ve got a reputation to maintain as your biggest fan.” He smiled that blindingly joyful smile. “Mark! Mark! Mark-” He was cut off by Mark’s lips on his and deafening cheer from Mark’s classmates. Smiling into the kiss, he wrapped his arms around Mark and pulled him as close as possible and neither of them felt like ever letting go.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is the second piece of work I've posted so far so if you have any suggestions or requests for something I could do next please tell me! Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
